325 PayPal workers lose their jobs

PayPal, the payment services arm of eBay Inc., has laid off 325 full-time workers as part of a “product reorganization,” according to PayPal president David Marcus. Most of the employees who lost their jobs worked in product and technology roles, he writes in a blog posting.

The job losses come amid PayPal’s drive to merge its nine product groups into one led by Hill Ferguson, who was previously in charge of PayPal’s mobile unit. PayPal also says it will end contracts with 120 contractors globally. EBay says in a statement that it will take a $15 million charge in the fourth quarter related to the job losses.

“We are creating agile teams of designers, engineers and product managers,” Marcus writes this week. “Instead of being organized around projects, our teams will now be dedicated to products and focused on our customers—consumers, developers, small businesses and large retailers.”

According to eBay’s most recent annual report, the online marketplace employs 27,700 workers globally, of whom nearly 19,000 work in the United States. The report did not break out PayPal’s employment numbers, and PayPal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, eBay reported that PayPal’s net revenue increased 23.4% year over year to approximately $1.37 billion in the third quarter.